NORTH CAPE MAY – In 2007, an article in the Herald reported on a bay beach street end access path on Shadeland Avenue in North Cape May, which had neighbors calling for Lower Township to clear the path there, and officials questioning if the access still existed.
Now, Shadeland Avenue resident Lynette Goodstine, having established the existence of the access path, wants the project to be completed, but a wrench in the works by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has again slowed construction.
At the Oct. 21 Lower Township Council meeting, a professional services contract with the engineering firm Mott MacDonald was approved to spend $8,600 for engineering services for a stair design plan for Shadeland, Hollywood, Rosewood and Redwood avenues along Bay Drive.
It was explained that the plan to add wooden stairs was being modified to incorporate piles driven into the beach to better anchor the stairs. The entrance would have split-rail fencing on either side, as well as an I-5 soil aggregate that consists of irregularly shaped sand, clay and silt particles that would be used as a base covering the sand to stabilize footing.
MaryLou Frick-Neal, who has lived on Shadeland Avenue since 1978, told council that the access path has always been there.
“The beach access path is nothing new. It was there when I moved here in 1978. The path needs to be finished. Since you opened it up, kids are now on there, the caution tape is down and there is a drop-off at the end,” Frick-Neal said.
Lower Township Manager James Ridgway explained that the municipality began work on clearing a path and installing stairs to the beach in August, when a complaint to the DEP halted work.
“When the DEP tells you to stop work, you have to stop. We’ve seen the fines neighboring communities have received for not stopping immediately,” Ridgway explained.
He said that while waiting for the DEP to allow work to continue, the municipality revisited the plan and decided installing pilings to secure the steps would keep future storms from damaging the stairway.
Councilman David Perry said the path needed to be blocked off, and no trespassing signs installed.
Red plastic fencing was added to the front of the path Oct. 25.
Goodstine told council that she has been involved with the ongoing Shadeland beach access issue for over two years, keeping in touch with the municipality and DEP.
“The path needs to be made safe. There has just been total neglect of the path. You need to create a path that needs the least amount of maintenance,” Goodstine said.
After the meeting, Goodstine, a retired physician, said she didn’t think the pilings were needed and was waiting for a call from the DEP to see if other municipalities use pilings to secure their stairways.
She said she became interested in the bay and the surrounding area after retiring here and striking up a friendship with Steve Sheftz, engineer and Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority board member.
Goodstine began to explore her neighborhood and discovered the overgrown path at the end of Shadeland Avenue.
“I looked at some old maps at Town Hall and realized that Shadeland goes across Bay Drive and down to the water. That’s when I began to ask the township to clear the path,” Goodstine explained.
Goodstine said public access to the bay and ocean is guaranteed by the Land and Sea Doctrine.
According to New Jersey’s website, “Public rights of access to and use of the tidal waterways and their shores, including the ocean, bays, and tidal rivers, in the U.S. predate the founding of the country. The rights are based in the common law rule of the Public Trust Doctrine.
“First codified by the Roman Emperor Justinian around 500 AD as part of Roman civil law, the Public Trust Doctrine establishes the public’s right to full use of the seashore as declared in the following quotation from Book II of the Institutes of Justinian: “By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind – the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.
“No one, therefore, is forbidden to approach the seashore, provided that he respects habitations, monuments, and the buildings, which are not, like the sea, subject only to the law of nations.”
Despite the doctrine, delays plagued Goodstine’s efforts, so she composed a letter to the DEP supporting an application to clear the path. One hundred of her neighbors added their signatures to the letter, and it seemed the project was moving ahead until August 2019, when the municipality began work, and then stopped.
She attended the council meeting to hear the reasons for the latest delay in the project.
Despite another holdup, Goodstine said she is encouraged that the path may soon be a reality.
“I really can’t wait for this to be finished. I can’t wait until we are able to use the path. It will be so beautiful when it’s done,” Goodstine said.
She is grateful the path may be done, but she would like one addition to the plan.
“I think benches at the beach end of the path would be nice for seniors to be able to able to sit and look over the beach and bay and maybe watch the sunset,” she said.
To contact Carl Price, email cprice@cmcherald.com.
Avalon – Maybe deport them instead of destroying what was once a great city! This is ridiculous. New York City launched a pilot program to help migrants transition out of city shelters by providing them with…
